Mordialloc College Student Council

Community and Wellbeing

The past two terms have been exciting ones for the Community and Wellbeing subcommittee.

Term 1 had our wonderfully successful Hoodie-Up Day, where students were required to bring a gold coin donation and “hoodie up” for World Autism Acceptance Month in April. We managed to raise over nine hundred dollars, which was donated to the organisation Amaze, who aim to deliver vital support to autistic people and their families and to create an autism inclusive Australia. The school community positively received this event, and we had parents reach out to tell us how important the day was to them and their children. 

Now in Term 2, our subcommittee along with the Promotions and Fundraising subcommittee have organised Blue for BeyondBlue, a free dress day of which the funds will go towards the mental health organisation BeyondBlue, who are committed to addressing and providing support regarding issues surrounding anxiety, depression, and other related mental health issues. This Thursday 23rd June, we will wear blue to show our understanding and support for those struggling with their own mental health, and to remind others and ourselves that we are not alone in our struggles, no matter how big or how small.

As part of the school’s Respect Group, we also had our IDAHOBIT fundraiser this term, where we sold rainbow themed cupcakes (thanks to Ms Davey’s baking skills) which was also a great success. 

We thank the school community for being so receptive to the actions we have made this term and look forward to making more change in Term 3!

Rhi Vaksman-Stovern

Community and Wellbeing Captain 2022

Curriculum 

The Curriculum Sub-committee focuses on what Mordialloc College can do to help students with their learning and study. At the end of last year, we created an Action Plan with a number of items to work on throughout this year. So far, we have been primarily focusing on two items: Year 12 exam practice and the Attitudes to School Survey. We have also supported a couple of proposals created by students outside our sub-committee and ensured that these proposals have been sent to the relevant teachers for consideration.

Throughout Term 2, we have been presenting to different year levels about the Attitudes to School Survey (sometimes abbreviated to ATOSS). We prepared for this in Term 1 by working out what students did not know or misunderstood about the ATOSS and, following this, we created a presentation addressing these areas. In Term 2, we presented this to each year level, with each member of our sub-committee having the opportunity to talk in front of a couple of year levels. All students have now completed the ATOSS -- this time with a greater understanding of its purpose and how it works. 

We have also been working on introducing extra exam practice for this year’s Year 12 cohort, in recognition of the fact that they have not completed a formal exam since Year 9 (due to COVID restrictions). As a sub-committee, we have been meeting and working with the relevant teachers to ensure that this occurs. Recently, we sent a Google Form to Year 12 VCE students asking their opinion on the topic, which closed yesterday. At the time of this newsletter’s publication, we will have just had a meeting dedicated to analysing the results of this survey, as well as planning out what exam practice will occur. After this, we will be moving on to our next item on our Action Plan. 

Tim Whitford 

Yr 12 MCSC: Curriculum Captain 2022

Facilities and Environment

The Facilities and Environment subcommittee began this year with brainstorming a  what could be improved around the school regarding its facilities and its environment. 

Term 1 was a quiet term, but in the background bin placement over the school was reconsidered and designed to target key rubbish hotspot areas.  This school plan was then later implemented not long after the brand new Year 7/8 building opened, with this progress to be implemented further when the brand new basketball courts open in order to tackle the rubbish around the school problem. 

Another aspect of the school that has been organised is the Indigenious, Australian and Torres Strait Islander flags  being displayed at the front again. 

We are hoping to commence a weekly rubbish collection group next term, which all students will have the opportunity to participate in - earning house points and a party at the end of the term for consistent attendees. We also plan to create awareness of the impact of littering through assembly slides showing the damage rubbish causes to Mordialloc Creek.

Ronan Askew and Jade Goodman

Facilities and Environment Captains 2022

Promotions and Fundraising

The Promotions and Fundraising subcommittee has had a busy semester,  Organising activities at our sport days  and planning various fundraisers means we have had our fair share of meetings.

In Term 1, there were of course our Athletics and Swimming Carnivals, where the promotions and fundraising subcommittee worked in tandem with the sports subcommittee to develop and provide activities outside of the set events, ensuring everyone had a chance to participate in the sports days. Furthermore, the promotions and fundraising subcommittee had the integral role of determining what foodstuffs should be sold on the day and for how much, as well as selling the drinks and manning the barbecue throughout the day. Through this we raised upwards of $1200, which will go back into the school to be spent on new equipment.

Towards the end of Term 1 we had our annual ANZAC day commemoration, where for two weeks representatives of the subcommittee went around to classrooms selling ANZAC badges in order to raise funds for the ANZAC appeal. 

In Term 2, we were proud to host our annual World's Greatest Shave, after much anticipation. The turn out was immense and thanks to the efforts of those donating, we were able to raise more than $1500 for blood cancer research. In our final week of Term 2, we organised with the Wellbeing team to hold a free dress day in order to fundraise for suicide awareness, encouraging everyone to wear something blue to school and bring a gold count donation. 

All donations will go towards the Beyond Blue and/or associated suicide prevention charities.     

 Alessia Gantzos, Isabella Siddall and Aston Hewet

Promotions and Fundraising Captains 2022

Sports

With sports events being abundant in Term 1, Term 2 has had cross country and interschool sports. This term, the Sports Committee have continued on with lunchtime clubs on Mondays and Thursdays in the Gym. Due to the renovation of basketball courts still progressing outside our new Year 7 and 8 Learning Centre, we have ensured that any students affected by this closed off space still have the opportunity  to interact with their friends in their own way and time. We’ve seen a variety of sports played in these sessions, however there is no doubt basketball and futsal are the most popular.

The Sports lunchtime club will continue until the construction of our new courts is completed, so bring yourself and your friends to the Gym on Mondays and Thursdays at lunch and relax from the stresses of school. Our Sports Committee looks forward to introducing educational and immersive traditional Indigenous sports activities in our upcoming NAIDOC week – however these are still to be finalised in the beginning of Term 3. 

If there are any questions or equipment needed, please let us know.

Jenaya Tran and Luke Collis 

Sports Captains 2022

 and Sports Sub Committee members: Marnie, Charles, Antonio, Jai, Isabelle, Jessica

email the Sports Captains,

Jeneya: tra0011@mc.vic.edu.au

Luke: col0094@mc.vic.edu.au 

The Arts 

The Visual Arts sub committee has begun the year with a beautification project, intending to reshape our wonderful Performing Arts Centre to be a more welcoming place that showcases our school’s talent. After accessing photography from past school productions, we were able to create collaged posters that celebrate our developing performing arts area and aim to evoke pride in students and allow visitors to really see that space in action. During NAIDOC Week, we created informative posters celebrating Indigenous achievements and notable individuals - we found that these were more effective being made by students for students, as we were able to choose topics that would interest our student body and in turn, develop understanding about Indigenous culture.

The performing arts subcommittee is welcoming a few new changes to the school to be more inclusive to those who are interested in the dramatic arts.

One of the changes to the school that we have implemented throughout Term 1 and 2 is playing music at lunchtimes regularly on Wednesday and Fridays. This has enhanced the atmosphere of the entire school as it gives something for people to listen to while enjoying their lunch break, something to dance to, or contribute to, with many people approaching and requesting songs of their own as long as they are appropriate. People are also allowed to sign up for running it themselves which some students have taken the opportunity to do.

Some exciting projects to look forward to that will commence soon are the drama club and a showcase night.

Drama club will start first week Term 3, where students will be able to enhance, practise, refine and just have fun learning new dramatic skills, improv games and occasionally watch a showing of a musical. This will be a place for people to perform and to have a good time doing drama with their friends.

Another inclusion that the performing arts is incorporating is a showcase night. Similar to Mordi Idol, it will be a voluntary process where people can perform either a dance, song, band performance or a drama performance, but unlike Mordi Idol, it will be a night that parents and peers can come along to, and it will not be a competition, but a presentation of the talent that some people possess at this school.

As per requests from the students at Mordialloc College, the bell music will be updated and will officially have changed by the start of Term 3.

We look forward to the changes that will be implemented in Term 3 and hope that the students' participation in these events will be met with enthusiasm.

Stephen Elkington

Performing Arts Captain 2022